Gaining more Value of Customer Relationships in the Digital Business Environment

Abstract

Digital business environment has amble of unexplored opportunities to engage with customers and to enhance future business. However, today customers are ever more networked online, and hold the power over consumption decisions not only on themselves but on many others. Existing customers can be valuable for the company from various perspectives. Thus, the thesis explores the value formation and management of customer relationships in online environment, from the perspective of the customer and the firm. The focus of the study is on exploiting research, data and analytics for customer value enhancement of the existing customer base. The thesis investigates the principles of Customer Value Management (CVM) in the online environment as means of gaining more value for the company from existing customer relationships. The focus is on exploring the value creation of customer relationships primarily from the perspective of the firm, but in terms of customer experience management, the study acknowledges also the value perceived by the customer in online relationships.

As its primary contribution, the research deepens understanding of the key components of an appealing customer experience in the online news channel context that builds loyalty. Second, the study broadens the customer management perspective from the value of transactions for the company to recognizing other value outcomes of enhanced customer engagement. Third, the study presents an applicable value measurement model for customer relationship management in the online news channel context.

The thesis comprises of three separate studies, Essays 1, 2 and 3 targeted to academic journals. Through a case study on essay 1, critical attributes for superior online customer experience in news channel context are identified. Essay 2 probes into identifying the components of customer engagement value and the associated metrics for measuring customer engagement. The third essay investigates how an online news channel can measure and manage customer value. The case company of the thesis is an online news channel publishing business news with a business focus on subscription sales as well as on advertising sales. The data for the thesis was gathered through face-to-face interviews (n=10) in the primary target group of the case company, through two web surveys (n=212 and n= 180) and through visiting data of 44 414 registered customers.